28:7.8N 15:25.6W Arrival in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
Niord's Big Adventure
Tony Gratton
Fri 1 Sep 2023 22:03
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Thursday 31/08/2023 Las Palmas, Gran
Canaria
Distance covered: 310.7 nm
We spend a peaceful night as both wind and swell have
abated. It is interrupted only by the occasional ship passing close by. By 0930
the sails are starting to flog, so the iron sail comes into play, and the sails
are taken in. We change the Portugal/Madeira flags for the Spain/Canaries ones!
Land is sighted, and we are all keen to arrive. As ever, this is a slow process!
The port of Las Palmas is awash with ships in dock and at anchor. We arrive in
Las Palmas Marina and can't raise a soul. It's 3:30 and everyone is on siesta,
which we have forgotten about! We tie up on a convenient pontoon, and set about
finding the marina office. We go wandering everywhere, only to find that it is
close to where we moored in the first place. The admin takes forever, as usual,
but our ARC berth is free, so it is allocated to us for this short stay! After a
wait, we follow the marina rib to our berth via quite a tortuous route. It's
quite an interesting rib, with flashing lights to follow! As we will be going
stern to with lazy lines, Tony reverses Niord the whole way, and is more than
pleased when we arrive at our berth without incident! The marinheiros give us a
hand, and we are soon berthed stern-to for the first time! Next, the passarelle
is put into service for the first time, and it all works well, though is a bit
steep for boarding (thanks Ray for the bracket which works
perfectly!)
We have a final snack with Zoe and Sarah before they
leave us. They have some trouble getting a taxi, but it comes in time and they
head off to the ferry terminal for their trip to Fuerteventura. We've had a
great time together, and Karen and I are sorry to see them go.
We grab a quick shower, then head off the the Barracuda
restaurant in the marina. We've made it, and celebrate with a glass of Cava! We
have a steak, with a bottle of local wine, and reflect happily upon our
achievement to get here. We go to bed feeling both proud and pleased with Niord
and her crew. It's not been all plain sailing, far from it, but we did it, and
we're here ready for the next leg of Niord's Big
Adventure!
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